The field of the invention is the separation of triglyceride mixture to obtain product (s) of Iodine Value different from that of such mixture.
The invention is especially useful in the processing of soybean oil to reduce the content of triglyceride with linolenic acid moiety to minimize the development of rancidity and odor. Such processing is presently being carried out commercially by touch hydrogenating in the presence of a nickel catalyst to convert linolenic acid moiety to more saturated moiety. Touch hydrogenating is disadvantageous for a number of reasons. Special processing is required to remove catalyst and hydrogenation odor. Moreover, touch hydrogenation causes undesired cis to trans isomerization and double bond position changes.
It is an object of this invention to provide a novel process for fractionating triglyceride mixtures.
It is an object in an important application of this invention to provide a process for reducing the content of linolenic acid moiety in soybean oil and minimize rancidity and odor problems without the need to remove catalyst or hydrogenation odor and without cis to trans isomerization or double bond position changes.